Farang in Thailand
Among the dark-skinned, black haired Thais I am known as a farang...a white foreigner...which brings with it both the good and the bad. Good: it's much easier to hitch a ride if you're white. Bad: people expect you to be rich, and think they deserve to have some of your money. Yesterday was a cultural experience like no other, while I was teaching at one of the local schools my wallet was stolen from the classroom. The culprit was a 5th grade girl whose history involves abandonment and abuse, and who's taken on the tendencies of a clepto to make friends. She was quite stubborn and refused to admit she'd taken the wallet, making the whole process last about 5 hours. Finally in the end, she admitted to hiding the wallet in the bathroon (more of an outhouse actually) and taking the money home. Even after 5 hours of trying to talk to her (the teachers suspected her from the beginning) only half of the problem was solved, as she still refused to give back the money. As much as I wish I could get the money back, something around $50 but I'm not even sure if it was that much, I also just wanted my wallet which contained my passport and atm cards, but more importantly I thought my perm. res. card which I need to get back into the US (it turned out I'd taken it out earlier this week, so it wasn't really a concern). Crazy experience aside, it was a great intro into Asian culture. Their approach was very sabei sabei, or laid back (hence the 5 hour wait) and the most important thing was to save face. She apologized to me for stealing the wallet, even though she didn't actually give everything back, but then the teacher apologized for herself, her students, and her school. I think even the country may have made it to that list. Since I've been doing cultural studies for quite some time now I can't say that it was a surprise, but it was definitely new to me. She was afraid that this incident would change my view not only of her student, but everyone in the country, which was very much a collectivist view. All this and I've only been in Thailand for one week!!
On a different note, we've been having a great time with the other trainees who are: Meredith from Ohio/Chicago, Eric from Texas, Anthon from the Netherlands, Lina from Malaysia, Patt from India, Karen from the Phillipines and our coordinator Weaw, a Bangkokian. Too much to write but here's what's been going on so far...
-we have rotations of who gets to sleep on the bed in our house
-our neighbors are elephants, and yesterday night we had more flying insects in our kitchen/laundry area than inhabitants of Khao Lak
-when people see us at a bar, they sigh "Oh no!" (most likely because of Karen, Meredith and my karaeoke debut at a bar that's never had karaoke)
-our main mode of transport has been hitchhiking...fave moment: driving in pouring rain at 100k/hr sitting in the back of a pickup truck
-there has been a recent dengue fever outbreak at the school where I work...mosquitoes love me :(
-yesterday we entertained 15 young local boys by singing "I Swear", "Big Booty" and other classics in the classroom where my wallet got stolen by an 11 year old
-there is a 28 day old ball of fur named Kar Tun at the relief camp...our mission one of these days is to abduct him in the middle of the night(it's a puppy for those that are confused)
-Meredith is wild and has even managed to make the Thai alphabet inappropriate....ho heep, my dear, ho heep...
And that's only after 3 days in Phang Nga....this will be one hell of a summer!
-
On a different note, we've been having a great time with the other trainees who are: Meredith from Ohio/Chicago, Eric from Texas, Anthon from the Netherlands, Lina from Malaysia, Patt from India, Karen from the Phillipines and our coordinator Weaw, a Bangkokian. Too much to write but here's what's been going on so far...
-we have rotations of who gets to sleep on the bed in our house
-our neighbors are elephants, and yesterday night we had more flying insects in our kitchen/laundry area than inhabitants of Khao Lak
-when people see us at a bar, they sigh "Oh no!" (most likely because of Karen, Meredith and my karaeoke debut at a bar that's never had karaoke)
-our main mode of transport has been hitchhiking...fave moment: driving in pouring rain at 100k/hr sitting in the back of a pickup truck
-there has been a recent dengue fever outbreak at the school where I work...mosquitoes love me :(
-yesterday we entertained 15 young local boys by singing "I Swear", "Big Booty" and other classics in the classroom where my wallet got stolen by an 11 year old
-there is a 28 day old ball of fur named Kar Tun at the relief camp...our mission one of these days is to abduct him in the middle of the night(it's a puppy for those that are confused)
-Meredith is wild and has even managed to make the Thai alphabet inappropriate....ho heep, my dear, ho heep...
And that's only after 3 days in Phang Nga....this will be one hell of a summer!
-
posted by Kasia at
6/25/2005 03:51:00 AM
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